Wednesday, January 4, 2012

The Function Of Fibre In A Diabetic's Diet

By Owen Jones


We are all encouraged to consume foodstuffs with more fibre, because dietary fibre is a vital ingredient for keeping our bodies healthy. It is particularly useful for the colon.

Since attention to detail in diet is even more important to diabetics, it stands to reason that fibre is even more vital to diabetics as well. And, indeed, diabetics are counselled to eat lots of fibre.

Fibre will also defer the on-set of diabetes in those people who are in a pre-diabetic condition. Fibre assists reduce the blood-sugar levels naturally, so it will help everyone in their quest to maintain healthy blood.

The manner in which it does this is fairly simple to understand. Fibre is more difficult to digest than the rest of the sugars and starches that surround it, so it has the impact of remaining in your digestive system for longer, thereby helping you feel 'full' longer, and it is digested very slowly thus reducing spikes in your blood sugar level.

Blood-sugar spikes are bad news for anyone who does not need a spike in order to accomplish a quest, like a weight-lifter or a sprinter. Spikes in children may lead to instances of hyperactivity in children.

The best sort of fibre is soluble fibre. This type of fibre is to be found in:

grain that has not been overly processed to remove the husk, so brown rice, whole wheat bread, cereals and pasta.

'dry' fresh fruits, not necessarily dried fruits, like bananas, mangoes, pineapple and apples

beans, lentils, legumes and pulses are stuffed almost full of dietary fibre and are effortlessly added to soups and stews.

Another way of feeling 'full' so that you are able to reduce the craving for a substantial meal is drinking water. Substitute plain tap water or bottled water for fizzy drinks. Your body might need the extra water to help it digest the extra soluble fibre that you are eating.

Fibre helps in all dietary situations, but is incorporated into the calculations that some diets use. For instance, if you are counting carbohydrates as opposed to calories, you will have a limit or target number of carbs you should consume in a day.

This is 20 carbs a day in the initial phase of the Atkins diet. Some diets will permit you to subtract the amount of fibre from the total number of carbs for the purpose of your calculations.

So, for instance, you may consume 25 carbs, and, as long as the food contains at least five grammes of fibre, you have not broken the guidelines of the diet. You will have to check whether your particular diet allows for this variation.

It sounds like another chore to have to track fibre as well as everything else you have to consider before you can eat anything, but it will be second nature after a few weeks or months.

The best way to get started is to pick up a small guide that will fit in your pocket or bag so that you can look into it frequently.

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